Sovereign.

She held him to her breast.

Kissed the tiny hand floating in the space between them.

She choked on the guilt.

They had fled and survived,

Leaving a genocide in their wake.

And while she drank in his unblinking eyes, 

Other mothers collapsed under the weight of empty arms.

Their hearts bleeding all down onto the ground.

Because of her Son, other sons had died.

She watched from afar.

She could barely look.

They drove spikes through the same hands she had kissed.

His cries shredded her heart.

She choked on the grief.

Collapsed into other mothers’ arms.

Mothers, whose sons would live because her Son had died.